NVIDIA CEO comments on GeForce Partner Program

Nvidia recently held a conference call on their latest financial results, one person in the call was Jen-Hsung Huang, and he is the CEO of Nvidia. He was asked about the cancellation of the Geforce Partner Program in relation to how Nvidia came to that decision and what the possible implications are on market share.

Jen-Hsung Huang 'The majority of the ecosystem embraced it, but some people hated it'. In his believe one gaming brand (say ROG) per videocard brand (NVIDIA) would be more transparent. More graphics cards series (Gaming / ROG / AMD/ NVIDIA) and brands under one label (ROG) would be less transparent. Have a read on his reaction below as spotted by our colleagues from HWI. It's a comment, albeit a small one:

Toshiya Hari - Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

Great. Thank you so much. Jensen, I had a question regarding your decision to pull the plug on your GeForce Partner Program. I think most of us read your blog from last Friday. I think it was, so we understand the basic background. But if you can describe what led to this decision and perhaps talk a little bit about the potential implications, if any, in terms of your ability to compete or gain share. That will be really helpful. Thank you so much.

Jen-Hsun Huang - NVIDIA Corp.

Yeah. Thanks for your question, Toshiya. At the core, the program was about making

sure that gamers who buy graphics cards knows exactly the GPU brand that's inside. And the reason for that is because, we want gamers to – the gaming experience of a graphics card depends so much on the GPU that is chosen.

And we felt that using one gaming brand, a graphics card brand, and interchanging the GPU underneath causes it to be less – causes it to be more opaque and less transparent for a gamer to choose the GPU brand that they wanted. And most of the ecosystem loved it. And some of the people really disliked it.

And so instead of all that distraction, we're doing so well. And we're going to continue to help the gamers choose the graphics cards, like we always have, and things will sort out. And so we decided to pull the plug because the distraction was unnecessary and we have too much good stuff to go do.

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If all gamers are smart enough to buy the correct cards regardless of branding, then why do people care that AMD cards are getting rebranded?

The most damning observation re GPP that I have yet seen.

cowie
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#5546911 Posted on: 05/15/2018 01:01 PM
not for nothing but amd should just run with gpp now.I would think it could help them the most they really need a adverting blitz with new named lines on aibs with "new" cards.

H83
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#5546914 Posted on: 05/15/2018 01:04 PM

Sadly there are a lot of clueless consumers who dont know much about PC hardware and who may be swayed by a store clerk to buy one brand over the other simply due to the stores stock situation. They may not even be capable of installing any components and ask the store or someone else to do it for them. Some may have a vague impression in their minds that MSI Gaming X is a hot product regardless if AMD or Nvidia and that may be the main influencing factor. This happens with other hi-tech products as well. Not saying thats the real reason for GPP, as I also said in my post (which you seemed to overlook) that Nvidia could also likely be doing this hurt AMDs market presence.

Those clueless consumers are directed immediately to systems with Intel and Nvidia parts because they are considered the "best"!!!... At least that´s how it works here in Portugal... And in other countries i suppose.

So Nvidia doesn´t need to worry about improving the actual situation of gaming brands because the current situation works perfectly in their favor...

moeppel
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#5546923 Posted on: 05/15/2018 01:17 PM

If all gamers are smart enough to buy the correct cards regardless of branding, then why do people care that AMD cards are getting rebranded?

Mostly because questionable and more than likely illegal business practices are just that: Illegal.

If Nvidia truly thought their GPP was fantastic, consumer friendly and more than anything, legal, they'd not have scraped the project over 'lies, defarmation and misinformation'. Kyle apparently single handedly brought GPP to its knees, going by Nvidia's GPP closure statement.

Actually, while on the subject of preaching and shouting transparency Nvidia could've kicked it off by introducing a GTX 1055 / 1060 / 1065 as the transparancy provided on a 1060 3GB vs. 6GB implies it was only a difference of VRAM. One can only wonder what we will get if there's truly a (cut down) 1070 arriving as a third 1060 variant.

P.S: I'm well aware of the RX 560(D) fiasco and my opinion on that isn't any different than the 1060's case - or the 1030's for that matter.

Kaarme
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#5546925 Posted on: 05/15/2018 01:23 PM

The most damning observation re GPP that I have yet seen.

Because the card manufacturers didn't do it voluntarily. They were going to do it because Nvidia was blackmailing them. That should be the damning observation. Things might be different in Huang's home country, but over here blackmailing is a crime, and I don't view it favourably.

Sadly there are a lot of clueless consumers who dont know much about PC hardware and who may be swayed by a store clerk to buy one brand over the other simply due to the stores stock situation. They may not even be capable of installing any components and ask the store or someone else to do it for them. Some may have a vague impression in their minds that MSI Gaming X is a hot product regardless if AMD or Nvidia and that may be the main influencing factor. This happens with other hi-tech products as well. Not saying thats the real reason for GPP, as I also said in my post (which you seemed to overlook) that Nvidia could also likely be doing this hurt AMDs market presence.

Even if the cardboard boxes were totally different with not a single same word shared by them, the clerks would still be doing their recommendations all the same to those customers who don't know beforehand what they are looking for. If the PC hardware store employees can't tell Nvidia and AMD from each other... I think the shop manager would have some teaching work to do in that case. Or even quote Trump and fire the employee.

The boxes and the cards looked similar because they were both carrying similar visual design and cooling solutions. That was so that Brand A would be different from Brand B. Brand A might be using both Nvidia and AMD, but that doesn't matter to Brand A as long as both sell. They are only competing with Brand B, C, D, E, etc. and trying to be different enough so that customers would choose them. Nvidia, however, told Brand A to compete with itself and waste its own money doing so.

I didn't overlook anything, I only concentrated on the unrealistic alternative you listed. Why would I mention the realistic one? There's nothing to correct there.

fantaskarsef
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#5546926 Posted on: 05/15/2018 01:25 PM
So is there finally any real "evidence" of what those contracts contained that NV tried to have partners sign? I kind of seemed to have missed it.

Fox2232
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#5546931 Posted on: 05/15/2018 01:47 PM

So is there finally any real "evidence" of what those contracts contained that NV tried to have partners sign? I kind of seemed to have missed it.

Do you need letter where perpetrator admitted crime, or is it enough that there is dead AREZ body.MSI's comment admitting that suspected behavior is perceived exactly as they meant to do it. (calling AMD subpar and leaving it there without reaction till there was large negativity buildup so they went into damage control mode)Gigabyte taking out Aorus from AMD.

Moment when ASUS no longer felt pressure, entire Arez was scratched. I wonder how successful would that brand be.

fantaskarsef
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#5546934 Posted on: 05/15/2018 01:59 PM
Do you need letter where perpetrator admitted crime, or is it enough that there is dead AREZ body.MSI's comment admitting that suspected behavior is perceived exactly as they meant to do it. (calling AMD subpar and leaving it there without reaction till there was large negativity buildup so they went into damage control mode)Gigabyte taking out Aorus from AMD.

Moment when ASUS no longer felt pressure, entire Arez was scratched. I wonder how successful would that brand be.

Well, yes, I'd like to read those contracts. Something wrong with wanting to go and know beyond circumstantial evidence and hear-say?

schmidtbag
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#5546936 Posted on: 05/15/2018 02:02 PM
Remember people, GPP wasn't just a marketing thing. It was also a way for brands to get first dibs on parts, and elevated priority of Nvidia's support. It screws over the smaller AIB companies.

GPP reminds me a lot of those clubs in elementary school involving a group of boys and they put up a sign saying "NO GIRLS ALLOWED!". It's childish and accomplishes nothing, since a club isn't supposed to let in just anybody anyway. Nvidia's GPP is no different than that sign. If an AIB partner is making a GeForce product, they're part of the club; there really shouldn't have to be a sign/condition saying "NO AMD ALLOWED!".

Anyway, I'm a bit impressed Huang remained so... pleasant in all of this. I thought his oversized ego would've got in the way, where he'd say something with an implication such as "but how else will people know how great we are!?" but instead he seemed to respect the demands of the market.

“Better never means better for everyone... It always means worse, for some.”

Though I don't find this to be universally true, it is especially true in this context.

Fox2232
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#5546938 Posted on: 05/15/2018 02:20 PM

Well, yes, I'd like to read those contracts. Something wrong with wanting to go and know beyond circumstantial evidence and hear-say?

Nothing wrong with wanting. I would personally read it too. (Even while there may be like 90% legal stuff without any real informative value.)

And you are right that AIBs did not admit that their actions were due to GPP. But their quick reversal of action and plans once connection was mentioned and GPP scrapped...

And I think you should not call it hear-say. At least not things which GN guy said in that YT video. (if you meant that) Because he did claim that he only spoke of things he got directly from communication with AIB's people and consider solid.So, he was either saying truth or he lied. I have no problem if you think that what he said is just made up BS. It is opinion about GN credibility.But it is not hearsay. Otherwise anyone could call Hilbert's information obtained via email communication as "yet another hearsay." And that would be wrong.

Edit: And I think GPP was scrapped exactly because nVidia did not want anyone in public to see those contracts. This ending up in some court, and information pulled + dissected by tech sites...For 2 months GPP is being discussed, and it shined bad light without even knowing tip of an iceberg. While I think that GPP was meant to cause harm to AMD. I think too that there may be statements which originally meant no harm, but upon closer look, they may prove to be much worse PR nightmare.

D3M1G0D
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#5546944 Posted on: 05/15/2018 02:53 PM
I'm curious to know who exactly Huang thinks he is fooling? Does he think gamers are idiots who cannot distinguish between "GeForce GTX" and "Radeon RX"? Frankly, I find it insulting how he continues with the blatant lie that the GPP was about "transparency".

Seriously now, does Huang want to alienate and offend the gaming community? Seems that he's not interested in rebuilding that bridge and re-establishing that trust with gamers. Still spreading fud, still playing the victim, and still no apology.

H83
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#5546945 Posted on: 05/15/2018 02:56 PM

Remember people, GPP wasn't just a marketing thing. It was also a way for brands to get first dibs on parts, and elevated priority of Nvidia's support. It screws over the smaller AIB companies.

The problem is that is a common practice in the business world. Every company treats their best customers in a different way than they treat the other customers. And this involves better payment conditions, better discounts, better support and priority for their products. For example in the car industry there´s a common joke regarding luxury brands like Porsche and Ferrary and their special edition cars released in limited conditions, that more important that having the money to buy them is having the garage already filled with their cars because a new customer to the brand has zero chances of buying a limited edition car from them... Basically they are allocating their limited products to their best customers...

So nothing new about this kind of practices...

Monchis
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#5546952 Posted on: 05/15/2018 03:06 PM
And they waited until gaming branded lines started outselling regular stuff by considerable margins, what a coincidence.

Ps.- And what happened to focus group educative comments on this matter?

Agent-A01
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#5546966 Posted on: 05/15/2018 03:42 PM
If someone can't tell those two apart then that person has no business entering a PC hardware store and even less business opening a PC case and trying to install anything. That's why Huang's excuse is nothing but a lousy excuse when the real purpose was obviously trying to limit competition. When this whole thing became news back in the day, I didn't care so much about it as those brands don't matter so much to me, but once it was revealed how draconian Nvidia was about it, who could anymore condone it?

You know, people can even find a yoghurt with no/low fat or normal fat among the selection in a grocery store. Maybe Huang can't, but most people can. I'm pretty sure they can choose the GPU they want as well without the Nvidia CEO holding their hand.

I don't know what planet you are on, but here on planet earth there are a lot of stupid people not to mention people who want to get into games but have zero idea about technology.

So yes, people will and do think those two cards are the same by looking at them.

Clearly you do not deal with people in the tech world; more people are technology illiterate than you think.

xrodney
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#5546968 Posted on: 05/15/2018 03:55 PM
I'm not saying AMD doesn't pay for marketing - I'm saying they don't pay for AIB brand marketing. AMD doesn't pay ASUS to market republic of gamers, they pay ASUS to market AMD graphics cards. And even if they do pay for ROG, it just furthers my point that the ROG BRAND matters for sales - despite what everyone on here is saying.

Because the existing branding matters? Which is my point? lol.. my argument is that the branding matters, which is why Nvidia wants it and AMD doesn't want to be removed from it. But everyone in here is arguing that it doesn't matter - that gamers are smart enough to know which card to buy. Obviously some gamers are - but I think that branding matters or else these companies wouldn't be dumping so much money to maintain them.

Again, I think what GPP did was bad.. but I think it was bad because AMD losing that brand does damage their sales, because some portion of gamers really do think ROG has faster or quieter fans, or whatever.I can agree with that...partialy.

But, main problem here was that Nvidia wanted usurp AIB established brands for themself which on its own is bad, but on top of that "threaten" if they dont.If Nvidia wanted to as they called it "stop confusion" about what GPUs you buy, all that was needed is to ask AIBs to make it more visible.There would not be problem to have Green themed ASUS ROG XXX for Nvidia cards and Red themed ASUS ROG YYY sub brands and packaging, instead they went super greedy and wanted to grab AIBs established brands for themselfin try to push AMD sales down and as well cost AIBs more money for promoting separate brands.

Seriously, any ideas like this should be shot in the heart and one more to head, just to make sure they stay down.